Material dispenser



P. J. FELLNER MATERIAL DISPENSER July s, 1969 July 8, 1969 P. J. FELLNER MATERIAL DISPENSER Shee'tI Filed Dec. 29, 1966 mm Nm om No. N: NN.

INVENTOR PH|LL1P J.Y FELLNER Sheet P. J. FELLNER MATERIAL DISPENSER,

Nm. vm.

July 8, 19,69

Filed Dec.

July 8, 1916.9 P. J. FELLNER MATERIAL DISPENSER `Sheet 4 of 4 Static Eliminator INVENTOR PHILLIP J. FELLNER FIGA United States Patent O U.S. Cl. 83-155 7 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to package wrapping equipment, and more specifically to a cutting device in combination with a pre-wrap table for partially wrapping packages. Flexible sheet material is fed by a resilient roller to iirst and second conveyors with the second conveyor also being used as the pre-wrap table. A gap is provided between the conveyors with a cutting device supported for reciprocable motion through the gap to cut the ilexible material. A rotation counter is used to control length of material fed onto the second conveyor and simultaneously stops the :first conveyor, operates the cutting device and starts a gap timer. The second conveyor 'will continue to move for the period of time set on the gap timer to position the cut material opposite an operator. The operator can then place the product on the cut material and wrap the package. A Wrap timer provides a preset period of time to complete wrapping of the package before the next piece of material is fed onto the second conveyor.

This invention relates to package wrapping equipment, and more specically to a wrapping material cutting device or sheeter and its combination with a pre-wrap table for partially wrapping packages of produce.

Plio-flm and similar heat shrinkable materials which are presently being used to wrap produce has presented a number of difficulties to the user in handling due to its highly adhesive characteristics. That is, it will adhere to itself if it is allowed to come in contact with itself or similar material. When supplied in pre-cut form it is dicult to separate one sheet from the next and when supplied in roll form it is diicult to cut it to the required lengths. The advantages of using the heat shrinkable transparent material are therefore often lost due to the increased cost and loss of time in handling.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide `an improved device for cutting heat shrinkable wrapping material to a length that can .be readily wrapped on the produce.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fully automatic device that continuously provides sheets of iiexible wrapping material of predetermined length.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide an improved device for dispensing soft lm type wrapping material onto a pre-wrap table.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a low cost device for dispensing flexible wrapping materials in predetermined lengths which is simple in construction and easy to manufacture.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a pre-wrap table having an improved wrapping material dispensing system that can be readily adjusted to vary the length of the wrapping material as it is fed onto the wrapping table.

A still further object of the present =invention is to provide a sheeter for dispensing predetermined lengths of flexible material that is fast and reliable in operation.

A still further `object of the present invention is to provide a device for dispensing a predetermined length of flexible material in a position for pre-wrapping packages.

A still further object of the present invention is to prolCC vide a control system for a sheeter for dispensing llexible materials that can be readily adjusted to Vary the length of the material dispensed, the position of the dispensed material on pre-Wrap conveyor and the time allowed for prewrap.

These objects are accomplished by combining a cutting mechanism for flexible material with a pre-wrap table. The flexible material used to wrap the produce is supplied in rolls of varying widths which are so located that the width of the rolls required for a particular job can be selectively fed to the cutting mechanism. The selected sheet of flexible material is fed by means of a power driven resilient roller onto a lirst conveyor which has a number of belts spaced apart for supporting the material. A static arrestor may be provided adjacent the resilient roller to neutralize the material so that it will not adhere to the conveyors. The paper is fed from the rst conveyor onto a second conveyor which also is used as the pre-wrap table. A small gap is provided between the two conveyors which is located in a transverse relation to the direction of travel of the sheet of material. A cutting device is supported for reciprocal motion through the gap between the two conveyors to cut the sheet of paper that lies across the gap.

A control system is provided to control the operation of both conveyors and the resilient roller simultaneously. The iirst conveyor is driven until a predetermined length of material is moved out onto the second conveyor, and is then stopped. A rotation counter is used to control the length of material fed onto the second. conveyor and simultaneously stops the lirst conveyor, moves the cutting device downward so that it passes through the gap between the two conveyors and starts a gap timer. The second conveyor will continue to move for the period of time set on the gap timer to position the piece of material opposite the operator. The operator can then place a product onto the cut piece of paper and wrap the package. A wrap timer provides a preset period of time to complete the wrapping of the package before the next piece of llexible material is fed onto the conveyor. In other words, the control system can be set to dispense a predetermined length of paper every so many seconds depending upon the ability of the operator to partially wrap `a package, position the material at the desired position and allow for the proper time to wrap the package.

If it is desired to speed up the operation of the machine the second conveyor can be made long enough for two or more operator stations. When two operators are used the iirst makes an initial wrap while the machine is stopped. The machine is then started to move `another strip of paper into the conveyor with the rst strip being moved to a second position where the second operator completes the wrap, at the same time that the first operator is partially wrapping the next package of produce on the new cut length of paper.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

`tlIG. 1 is a side view of the dispensing and wrapping ta e.

FIG. 2 is a stop view of the improved dispensing and pre-wrapping device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the drive mechanism for the improved device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic View of the electrical control system for controlling the operation of the device.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the automatic cutting and dispensing machine or sheeter includes a frame 10 having vertical upright members or legs 12 and horizontal frame members 14. Three different width rolls of flexible material 16, 18 and 20 are shown mounted 3 on shafts 15, 17 and 19 which are held in position in bearings 21 on the lower frame member 14. Guide plates 23 'are secured to the frame to prevent the material from one of the rolls from dropping into contact with the other rolls.

A sheet feeding mechanism 22 is mounted on the end of the frame and includes three cross rollers 24, 26 and 28 supported for rotary motion on brackets 30 secured to legs 12. A retainer roller 32 is positioned above each of the cross rollers and is movable in slots 34 in the brackets to allow for the feeding of a sheet of material over the cross rollers. Once the sheet has been started it will remain on the cross roller due to the weight of the retainer rollers. A guide roller bar 36 is mounted on the brackets to guide each sheet to the feed and cutting section 38. The selected sheet of material is passed over drive roller assembly 40 onto first conveyor 42. The drive roller includes a number of spaced roller discs "44 mounted on a shaft 46 which is journalled in bearings 48 on upper frame member 14. Tension rollers 50 and 52 are mounted on `bracket assembly 54 which is pivotable from an inoperative position above the frame to allow the paper to be laid across the drive roller and the feed conveyor to an operative position with roller 50 located below the drive roller and roller 52 in engagement with roller assembly 40.

The Ibracket assembly includes a pair of L-shaped arms 41 pivotally connected to brackets 43 by screws 45. A second pair of lever arms 47 are pivotally connected to brackets 43 by pins 49 and are connected to arms 41 by connecting link 51 with pin 53 being slidable in slot 55 in the link. Springs 54 connected between the bracket and frame assembly are used to bias the assembly in the operative direction. With the bracket assembly positioned in the upper or inoperative position the leading edge of the flexible material will be placed over the top of the drive roller and conveyor. After the sheet has been placed in position, the bracket assembly will be dropped to the operative position with roller 50 pushing the sheet of flexible material down between roller 36 and roller assembly 40. Roller 52 will hold the sheet of paper against the periphery of the roller assembly. The sheet of paper will then pass over roller 36, under roller 50, over the drive roller and under roller 52.

A static arrester or eliminator mounted on brackets 62 on the main frame is shown in the gap between the drive roller and the feed conveyor, however, it may be omitted if it is not considered necessary because of the type of paper being used.

The feed conveyor includes a drive shaft 64 and a driven shaft 66 journalled in bearing 68 on the upper frame member 14. A number of belts 70 are spaced along the axis of the drive and driven shafts. Pressure roller 72 is mounted on arms 74 and rests on the top of the conveyor near the front end to hold the flexible material in Contact with the conveyor.

A second pre-wrap conveyor assembly 76 is located on the top of the frame at the discharge end of the apparatus. This assembly includes a drive shaft 78 and a driven shaft 80 journalled in bearings 82 on the top of the frame. A number of belts 84 are mounted on the shafts and are movable over a support board 86 mounted on bolts 88.

A pressure roller 90 is provided at the entry end of the conveyor to hold the exible material on the surface of the belts when it is fed onto the conveyor. The pressure roller 90 is mounted on a pair of ar-ms 92 which are free to pivot about screws 94 in brackets 96 on the frame. Pressure roller 90 and roller 72 can be made of a material similar to that used in paint rollers.

The paper is cut by a cutting assembly that is positioned to move through the gap 102 between the first and second conveyor assemblies. The cutting assembly shown includes a cross bar 104 secured to a pair of reciprocallg.y movable arms 106. Springs 109 are connected to bracket 43 and to the arms 106 to bias the cross bar to an upper position. A solenoid 108 is secured to the frame (FIG. 3) with its armature 110 connected to one of the arms 106. When energized armature 110 will pull the cross bar downward against the bias of springs 109 into the gap between the conveyors. A spring 107 may be connected to the armature and to bracket 103 to provide a return bias on the armature.

An electric heating wire 112 is suspended across the full length of the cross bar on insulated brackets 114 so that it will be brought into engagement with the sheet of flexible material that bridges the gap between the conveyors. The electric wire is exposed across the full width of the arm. The heat of the electric wire is sufficient to burn or melt exible material such as plio-lm as the wire is brought down into contact with the exible material. The electric heating wire may be replaced by a cutter blade secured to the lbottom of the cross bar 104. A cooperating stationary blade should be provided beneath the paper to aid in cutting if the tension of the material in the gap is not suflicient to allow the cutter blade to cut it.

After the sheet of flexible material has been cut it is moved to a position on the second conveyor 76 where it can be conveniently wrapped by an operator. If the package or produce is to be wrapped in two steps the conveyor is made longer to provide two positions.

In FIG. 3 a side view of the drive system for the apparatus is shown. Two drive sprockets and 122 are mounted on shafts 121 and 123, respectively, and are driven olf of magnetic clutches 214 and 212, respectively, connected to an electric moto-r 204 as described hereinafter. Drive sprocket 120 is connected to sprocket 124 on shaft 78 by an endless chain 126 to drive the second conveyor. An idler sprocket 128 on arm 130 is used to maintain the proper tension in the chain. Drive sprocket 122 is connected to sprocket 132 on the drive roller shaft 46 and to sprocket 134 on shaft 136 by an endless chain 138. Idler sprockets mounted `on arm 142, idler sprocket 144 on arm 146 and idler sprocket 143 on arm 145 `are used to maintain tension in the chain. A drive sprocket 148 is secured to shaft 136 and is connected to sprocket 150 on the small conveyor drive shaft 66 by a chain 152. Rotation `of the drive sprocket 122 will, therefore, drive the drive roller shaft and the conveyor 42 simultaneously, A rotation type counter is used to control the length of material that is fed onto the second conveyor. The rotation counter is driven off of a step-up drive assembly 154 driven off of chain 138. The assembly includes a drive sprocket 155 mounted on shaft 156 in position to be driven by chain 138. A step-up sprocket 157 is mounted on shaft 156 and is connected to a drive sprocket 158 secured to the counter drive shaft 159 by chain 160. An idler sprocket 161 on bracket 163 is used to maintain tension in the chain.

The drive sprockets 120 and 122 are initially driven simultaneously to feed a length of flexible material onto the second conveyor. Sprocket 122 will then stop and solenoid 108 will be energized to bring the electric wire down so that it will cut the paper. The sprocket 120 will continue to operate until the cut sheet is in a wrapping position on the conveyor.

Referring to FIG. 4 a schematic diagram of the timing system is shown. In the diagram it will be noted that motor 204, counter clutch 210, drive roller clutch 212, hot wire solenoid 108, gap timer 220, wrap timer 226 and second conveyor clutch 214 are all connected across lines L1 and L2. Heating wire 112 is shown at the bottom of the diagram connected to a transformer 225. Switches are shown in each of the circuits for these elements and are better described in the operation of the system.

When the system is started up, main switch 200 and motor switch 202 are closed energizing the motor 204 and the circuits to the other elements. On closing of the normally open foot switches 206 and 208 the magnetic clutch 210 for the rotation counter, the magnetic clutch 212 for the drive roller and first conveyor and the magnetic clutch 214 for the second conveyor will all be energized. Both conveyor belts will then move with the drive roller feeding paper out onto the conveyor belts. When the prescribed length of material has been fed onto the second conveyor as indicated by the rotation counter, the rotation counter will actuate the solenoids for solenoid switches 216 and 218 to de-energize clutches. Switch 218 will close with the circuit to the gap timer 220 and to the hot wire solenoid 108. The hot wire will be brought down against the paper in the gap between the two conveyor belts. Since the second conveyor is still energized, the material which has been cut by the hot wire will be moved by the second conveyor until the conveyor is stopped. The gap timer 220 Will open normally closed switch 222 to de-energize the clutch 214 when the cut paper has reached the wrap position. Normally open switch 224 will also be closed by the gap timer to energize the wrap timer 226. The wrap timer is a delay timer to allow time for the operator to wrap a package in the cut material before starting a new cycle of operation. When the wrap timer has run for the preset time switches 216, 218 and 222 will all be reclosed to re-energize the clutches 210, 212 and 214 to start a new sequence of operation and switch 224 will be opened stopping the -gap timer. Over-ride switches and control switches are also included in the circuit -but the specific circuit used in this system does not form a part of this invention and the description of these switches is not considered necessary to show its operation.

If a second station is required to wrap the packages, it will not affect the operation of the system. The second conveyor only has to be extended to hold two packages with a partial wrap being made at the first station and the finishing wrap being made at the second station. The second station will always Ibe located a distance from the first position equal to the length of paper cut plus the distance of movement of the second conveyor after the material has been cut. A supply shelf 230 is shown mounted on brackets 232 on the sides of the con-veyor with the sides mounted on rollers 234 that ride on flanges 236 on the frame.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic wrapping material cutting mechanism comprising a frame,

first and second conveyors mounted in spaced relation on said frame,

cutting means movable through the space between the conveyors,

control means to coordinate the motion of said con-` veyors with the motion of said cutting means, said control means including a measuring device to stop the first conveyor when a predetermined length of material has been fed onto the second conveyor,

a first timer to stop the second conveyor when the predetermined length of material is at a predetermined location, and

a second timer to start the conveyors after the package has been wrapped,

whereby wrapping material fed onto said conveyors can be cut by moving said cutting means through the gap between the conveyors.

2. An automatic cutting mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said cutting means comprises an electrically heated wire.

3. An automatic cutting mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said cutting means comprises a cutter blade.

4. An automatic Wrapping material cutting mechanism comprising a base,

a source of wrapping material,

a first conveyor mounted on the base,

a second conveyor mounted on the base in spaced relation to said lirst conveyor,

control means for controlling the operation of said conveyors,

drive means for feeding wrapping material onto the conveyors,

said drive means including a resilient roller positioned in spaced relation to said first conveyor, and

a pair of tension rollers positioned on each side of said resilient roller to hold the flexible material against the surface of said resilient roller;

cutter means movable through the gap between the first and second conveyors to cut the wrapping material in the space between the conveyors.

S. A cutting mechanism according to claim 4 wherein said control means includes a measuring device to stop said drive means and said first conveyor when a predetermined amount of flexible material is fed onto the second conveyor, and to actuate the cutting means to cut off the material on the second conveyor,

a first timer to stop the second conveyor when the predetermined length of material is moved to a wrapping position,

and a second timer to start the drive means and the conveyors when a sufficient length of time has elapsed to wrap a package.

6. A cutting mechanism according to claim 5 wherein said cutting means comprises an electric wire.

7. A sheet dispensing device for predetermined lengths of flexible material comprising,

a frame,

a source of exible wrapping material,l

a first conveyor mounted on said frame,

a second conveyor mounted on said frame in spaced relation to said first conveyor,

feed means for feeding said wrapping material onto said conveyors,

a measuring device to stop said feed means and said first conveyor when a predetermined length of material is fed onto the second conveyor,

cutter means movable in the space between the two conveyors to cut the material,

a first timing means to control the motion of said second conveyor after the material has been cut to thereby move the cut material to a prewrap position, and

a second timer to restart the conveyor after a predetermined period of time;

whereby the material on the said conveyor can be used to wrap a package.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,544,241 3/ 1951 Sternad et al 83-209 X 2,918,971 12/1959 Bertram 83--209 2,971,416 2/1961 Von Stoeser 83-155 JAMES M, MEISTER, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 

